As an Indian who grew up outside India, I do agree with you on a lot of what you point out. When I moved to India, I lived amongst the rich as well as the real middle class, and I learned the routine issues for both classes are vastly different causing difference in perspectives and complaints.I’ll respond to this since I’ve been mentioned and my statements have been taken out of context. I don’t hate Indians nor am I ashamed of being an Indian. I also don’t have any beef with the nationalist Gandibat. I’m just pointing out the hypocrisy and the delusion of grandeur we have as a country. We don’t have the economic or military might of either China or the United States, so we’re neither an economic superpower, nor a military superpower. What we do have is a large market and military because of our large population. Since we really don't have anything significant to be proud of apart from our rich history and culture, we’re a deeply insecure bunch. It’s because of this deep insecurity, you see a lot of Indians clinging onto extreme nationalism as a coping mechanism. Politicians like Modi have latched onto this insecurity and doubled down on showcasing nationalism in any way they can. Recent examples of this being the assassination of a Khalistani in Canada and the failed assassination attempt in the US. Now, you may ask why they would do this when they’re trying to establish close relationships with the west? It’s because Indian politicians are extreme failures when it comes to domestic issues. They really don’t have anything of substance to showcase as progress. It’s much easier to focus on external issues happening in another country rather than fixing third rate infrastructure, crap productivity, income inequality, poverty, food insecurity, pollution, rampant corruption etc. However, in recent times, if you or any Indian were to point out that there are a lot of domestic issues that need to be fixed in India, you would be shot down immediately with whataboutism and be labeled “anti-Indian” or “self hating Indian” by nationalists who get extremely defensive. The Indians who are tired of dealing with this, move abroad and the ones who stay, have given up and accepted their fate. The perfect example of this insecurity being a very high profile gang rape which took place in India, in 2012. A 23 year old woman was gang raped by 6 men and there were certain sections of the Indian population who had the audacity to blame the victim for being raped. I can’t imagine how a country is ever expected to solve any of its problems if certain sections of its population are demonized or insulted for having any sort of self introspection? Imagine if the Americans who fought for the Union during the American Civil war cowered and accepted their country’s actions to be the norm without any pushback, you would still have black people living in America as slaves. I”ll leave it at that. Peace!
India, IN GENERAL AND IN MY EXPERIENCE, is exactly how you describe it. But generalizations are bad at putting your point across. Example, for every 1 person who blamed the girl for getting raped and dying, there were 100s more who were just as furious as you. For every 100 Gandhi haters and deniers, there will be 100s who will not relent to that narrative.
Your perspective seems to be a (correct) response of the Indian media version of India. From an outsider's perspective (me) Indian Govt is progressing towards being similar to that of Russia Or China. Look at where these countries are now and its not difficult to forecast what will happen to India.
However true and real the issues you highlight about India, it is so vast and different every 100KM that you can't use the same brush to paint an entire country like that, and this is coming from someone who faced the rampant anti-muslim hate directly when I was living there.
I used to self-hate and hate India due to this plus all the issues you highlighted, but I have since realized that its still more nuanced that that.